It is well known that the proliferation of commercial documents have required the development of document processor equipment to automatically handle, sort and process documents and the information represented thereon. Such equipment normally includes an operator viewing station where the operator, upon presentation of the documents or their images, selectively intervenes with respect to certain ones of these documents for the purpose of key entry of data, document rejection, or the performance of other operations associated with these selected documents.
For example, one class of document processor equipment are computerized remittance processors for automatically processing payment and payment record documents and their data. In accordance with well known, high volume remittance processing operations, individuals in making payment of their credit card balances, bank notes, utility bills, etc. forward both a remittance document (check) and a remittance advice document (transaction summary) to a central location where these documents and/or the captured information on the face of the documents are automatically processed for appropriate account reconcilation and credit. During such processing, the checks and remittance advice documents are transported by the remittance processor past an operator viewing station where the operator selectively intervenes with respect to certain ones of these documents to key enter data with respect to checks which are to be subsequently encoded and/or with respect to remittance advice documents which may be defectively encoded or which contain non-machine readable data.
With respect to existing document, and particularly remittance, processors, each and every document, whether requiring operator intervention or not, is sequentially advanced through the operator viewing station for presentation to the operator, many times being halted at such station for operator review. Consequently, the operator must await each document not requiring operator intervention to advance out of the way of operator view, thus greatly slowing down the overall document processing operation.
It is therefore the principal object of the present invention to provide a new and improved method and apparatus for document processing, particularly for use with automatic document processors which simultaneously process both documents of the type requiring, and those not requiring, operator intervention.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved method and apparatus for the transport and presentation of only those documents at an operator view station which require operator intervention, thereby substantially increasing the speed of document processing, as well as enhancing operator viewing of such documents.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a new and improved remittance processor.
Specific features of the invention, as well as additional objects and advantages thereof, will become more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with accompanying drawings, in which: